Thursday, November 4, 2010

Up, UP, AND... What?... Wait... is that RICE WINE!?

A little while back, I was at GoKeyon (My main School) and I was doing what we in the ESL (English Second Language) teaching profession call desk warming (My classes were cancelled but I was required to be at school to fulfil my contractual hours). It was midterm exams for the students so I had no classes to teach.
While merrily sitting at my desk I 1st got told I could go home early and then later got asked, after noticing that the teachers had all changed into active ware and track suits, if I wanted to go “mountain climbing” with the rest of the staff after school. Sitting at my desk in my formal shoes; semi formal, pin stripe brown trousers; and rather brightly coloured formal shirt (all for professional looking purposes), I thought, even though I was in no way dressed for it, WHY NOT. So the school day ends and I climb into one of the teachers cars (who has a head-rest covered with Cats ears at the top – I thought it fitted her personality rather well) and off we go in a convoy of 3 car to a destination unknown (save for one teacher who was trying to get us all there).
At this point I will mention that I was not the only one in my “Number 1’s”. The headmaster joined us and he was even more formally dressed than I was.


Top and Bottom: Entrepid Teacher of GoKyeon Middle School before we head off on our merry hike

After drifting off to sleep on the way there, I awake to find I am SERIOUSLY IN THE HILLS. It is stunning views all around as we pull into the parking lot. We had driven to a temple that was on the way to Geonju. The temple (now here is where a conceited western view may detract from the person I am) was like all the other temples I had seen. Beautiful. But... Seen 1, seen them all... kind of vibe. Sigh. OK – individualistic, Western need for NEW and EXCITING things the whole time, rant, over with.
We begin our TREK and I quickly realised that this “Mountain Climbing” hike is no joke. It was akin to going up “Lions Head”...



...in lovely sunny and warm (now at any rate-as winter and freezing temps are slowly crawling towards me) Cape Town but doing so, distinctly less fit than I normally am. We begin going 12 strong in the group but only 6 of us got to the top as the stragglers slowly dropped off the back. Half way up, the One Teacher, the Science teacher, says, “Stop Now. Take Break”. He proceeds to pull out 2 quartz of Makalee (Rice Wine); Tofu; and 2 bags of Dried Squid; oh and some chocolate that was like a Snickers bar.

I actually think it was this brand...

FLASHBACK PREVIOUS 4 YEARS OF MY LIFE:

It was like I was back at Rhodes with the old Mountain club going on a hike or a climb – all we had was gear, bread (generally savoury loaf), and drinks – in my case some HUNTERS
FLASH BACK TO THE VIRTUAL PRESENT...
I had 2, 200ml glasses of the wine, my chocolate, and was fed Tofu (Something the Koreans do when hands are not free – the feed you like you are 2yrs old). It was strange being fed by a man who was twice my age when I actually had free hands to use my own set of chopsticks. I’d rather not dwell on the weird :-P
Well fed and watered we continue on our journey for the crest of the mountain and after about 30min we get there and I can report that the beacon at the top told me that we were 961m above sea level.

 Victorious Hikers at the top... (KOREANS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT BY PROFESSION: Science Teacher; Mrs Won (My Co-Teacher), Grade 2 Register Teacher, PE Teacher, Korean Teacher


Admiring the amazing view suddenly I am offered more wine. This time it is a different kind. I politely declined though as I wanted to get down the rather steep slopes with my limbs still attached.
On decent, it was like a 60 degree decline. Really steep. So steep that the female teachers really struggled to stay on their feet, particularly my co-teacher, Mrs Won. After getting back on level ground again, we all went to the tea room at the temple that is provided free of charge for visitors. I really love the tradition behind meal and taking your shoes off and sitting on floor cushions and stuff. I am really enjoying that aspect of meal times. Tea was drunk and then it was back in the car –




View from the top of the hike

Respite After the Hike - At the Tea Room

Me with the 2 pregnant Teachers: One is the 1st Grade Register Teacher and the
2nd is the Art teacher, as well as the estate manager
BUT WE WERE NOT GOING HOME...
We stopped at this tiny place pretty much situated in a shack and met two other gentlemen there (presumably they had something to do with the school or Edu dept. It was there that we had supper. Fish soup and fish stew thing. Neither of which I was too keen on because of all the bones. My headmaster was getting frustrated at the way I was trying to grab fish that I could see had no bone and he said: “No, no. Not like that. Like this” and proceeded to take an entire fish (bones, head, tail and fins and all) with his chopsticks and drop it on my plate. Add to that the teacher who had all the wine on the hike, tried desperately to get me drunk on Soju, which I continually refused. Right at the end of the meal we were given platters of Mushroom which I enjoyed and tucked into. Due to my difficulties with the fish and my enjoyment of the mushrooms none of the teachers around me would let me stop eating he mushroom they would keep bringing out more and putting them on plate, which is considered rude to refuse, so I kept eating them until I felt sick. Sigh.

Coming up in the exciting Asian Adventure:

Ja, Well, No, Fine - it's Deajeon (also know for the weekend as Little South Africa);
Korean Formula 1 Yippy!!!;
"Come on Baby Light my... Lantern";
Woobang Land - The park that provided much amusement and completed a life dream;
Sports Day at GoKyeon!
That was the first outing I had with my teachers, let’s see where the next one take me :)

Posts on the Inaugural F1 Korean GP, My Visit to a Korean Amusement Park, Jinju Namsan Lantern Festival, Deli Tours 2010-Deajeon, and Sports Day at GoKyeon to follow soon...

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